A new paradigm for being a conscious being here and now on beautiful Planet Earth. A cross between "synthesis", "renaissance", "cryogenics" and "benthic"..."a flowering of creativity that's extremely cool and very deep." And the name of a yahoo e-group I started in 2002, now with around 1800 members, mostly friends of mine. Cheers Jeff

The veteran journalist and film-maker is angry at the lack of progress in Indigenous affairs over the past 30 years

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/08/john-pilger-utopia-is-one-of-the-most-urgent-films-i-have-madeJournalist and film maker John Pilger has been making films on
Indigenous Australia for nearly thirty years. His new film, Utopia,
revisits many of the locations and people he has been visiting
throughout that time and provides a “grim and powerful”
assessment on the state of Indigenous affairs. As the film is set for a
January release in Australia, Pilger talks about some of its themes.Q: You've been making films about Indigenous Australia for
decades and Utopia references much of your previous work on the subject.
Why did you feel the need to return to the subject now?

Utopia is long overdue. The so-called “intervention” in 2007 was one
of the most devastating setbacks suffered by Aboriginal people. Do
non-indigenous Australians understand the pain and trauma this cynical
action by the Howard government caused? I doubt it. The national
smearing and humiliation, the lies and consequent tragedies – the increase in suicides, for example – rank with the worst official behaviour towards the first people of Australia.

Utopia is one of the most urgent films I have made. That Australian
governments believe they can manipulate and discriminate against
Aboriginal communities in a manner that has been described in the UN as “permissively racist”
is astonishing in the 21century. How ironic that as Nelson Mandela was
buried and venerated, another form of the system he fought against was
alive and well in Australia.'OUR GENERATION'

JOHN PILGER INTERVIEW ON ABC RADIO

John Pilger discusses a treaty for Indigenous Australia on ABC Radio National on the day of the Australian premiere of his new film 'Utopia'

Every year, Australia tries to wash away its hidden history with displays of overt nationalism. On 26 January, Australians plant their union jacks in parks and beaches across the country, or on the faces of small children who are taught nothing about what the symbol means to those people this nation believed it conquered. For the majority of them, there has only been one name for the date: Australia day.

But for the First Peoples, there have been several. Survival day, invasion day, sovereignty day – each word loaded with the pain of 200 years of dispossession that has left Aboriginal people impoverished but, against the odds, remarkably strong.

My preferred name for 26 January, however, was one of its earliest – the day of mourning. On this day, First Nations peoples mourn the loss of land, of their children, of their wages, of their remains. They mourn the loss of control over their own future. Australians may want us to "get over it", to stop being so "sensitive". But then, why do we still set aside a day of remembrance on ANZAC day to commemorate those who risked their lives at war? And why don’t we acknowledge the brave Aboriginal fighters who sacrificed everything in the frontier wars?

A couple of years ago, I visited a site of extreme significance to my nation – the Darumbal people, whose homeland takes in Rockhampton in Central Queensland. About a 30 minute drive from the town, there is a mountain which was for decades known as Mt Wheeler; coincidentally the same name as the man, sir Frederick Wheeler, who in the 19th century chased a mob of Darumbal people up to the top and herded them off like sheep.

As I gazed up at that sheer cliff face, I imagined the pleading faces of a people who would never get justice for those crimes, although the evidence of their spilled blood is passed down by stories and even in official documents at the time. Today, that site is unmarked. Scattered rubbish left by campers litter its base. The Darumbal people renamed this sacred initiation site – Gawula. Australians are blind to the crimes that occurred there and yet, it's one massacre site amongst thousands across Australia. Do you know the ground you walk on? Would we treat the massacre site of any other people this way? Would we forget so easily?

This month, veteran journalist John Pilger released his new film Utopia in Australia. What he uncovers is an ignored truth. Despite the magnificent wealth of this country, its First Peoples have inherited a legacy of disadvantage that has compounded since the very first days of invasion. It’s compounded by government neglect and apathy, by watered down promises replacing land rights with “reconciliation” and the failure to recognise the ability of Aboriginal people to control their own lives, to grant them true self-determination.

Australia is locking up Aboriginal people at horrific rates, and yet still cutting funding to Aboriginal legal aid services. It lets its media off for demonising Aboriginal people, and even gives them a Logie for it. It shamefully allows the 10-year extension of one of the most racist policies in Australia’s history – the Northern Territory intervention – and claims its for "their" own good. It will not have any evidence of the frontier wars in the Australian War Memorial, but is content to represent them as gargoyles alongside wildlife on the walls of the national monument.

This shameful history is laid bare in Utopia, but the film also showcases the strength and resilience of Aboriginal people. One of my favourite quotes from Utopia is made by Anmatyerr elder Rosalie Kunoth Monks:

What amazes me is there is not that hatred, because that’s beneath our dignity to hate people. We have not got that… but us old people have to start thinking about righting the wrong, the awful wrong that continues to happen to us an ours.

Aruna or 'Roony' is a fantastic person I met who works at the Brambuk Cultural Heritage Centre in Halls Gap, Victoria, in the heart of Gariwerd National Park (The Grampians), where I was very blessed to live for several months in 2012-13. In this excellent interview he shares the story of his people, the REAL indigenous people of Australia, as well as his own personal story. With emphasis on the importance of educating not only young people, but the adult population of Australia as a whole, Roony recounts various aspects of the horrific treatment his people have undergone at the hands of the European 'invaders.'

The New Year has created a very lovely conjunction of two new friends who are from the same distant galaxy. The path of conscious spiritual development and responsibility that Bailey has embarked on is very powerful for her at the individual, as well as a guiding light for the path and inner work that the universe is calling on us ALL to do: get in touch with, realize, become who and what we REALLY are as true human beings during this very sacred moment in time, that is, NOW.This is a posting from Facebook yesterday. Bailey recently completed a 10-day Vipassana meditation course and shared her experience.

A BEAUTIFUL, POWERFUL and RELEVANT SHARING OF INSIGHT FROM A
LOVELY NEW FRIEND. Read this and share Bailey's recent transformative
inner work that has given her a"...feeling of confidence [that] feels unwavering, and now through continued
practice I feel I can truly be an instrument for peace, understanding,
unconditional love and compassion. For only when we TRULY love and accept
ourselves, can we love and accept others..."

What Bailey has
just accomplished and embarked on is a TRUE spiritual path, of
self-awareness, self-responsibility, the right use of creativity and the
'ultimate technology' that we each truly are. Through meditative
practice of controlling her own mind she has begun to attain a level of
self-mastery and awareness that we are in fact 'creating realities of
our own.' Understanding oneself, going within, constantly re-creating
who and what we are is the essence of a true SPIRITUAL path.

What is so powerful and significant about Bailey's experience and
accomplishment is not only that is has helped her at the individual
level, enabling her to be and become an ever-more-awesome expression of
cosmic love and creativity, but also that by doing this in her own life,
by exerting this effort AND having the motivation and insight to SHARE
this with her fellow beings, is quite literally making it both possible
and easier to OTHERS to do the same thing.

"I share my
experiences with human beings in hopes that we can truly look at
ourselves and how our actions and beliefs about ourselves may be
crippling us and therefore the world."

SUCH a powerful message for
humanity at this this critical cross-roads.

Bailey's message is
precisely the same as my own: We are all being called on by the Great
Spirit, by Mother Earth, by all the powers of love, truth and beauty, to
ask more of ourselves, to be and become the highest expressions of the
beautiful gift of life that we have been given. To become aware of and
to honour our unique identity, our unique powers of creativity on a true
spiritual path, to walk in beauty and compassion, to ask not our planet
can do for us but what we can do for our planet.

THANK YOU BAILEY FOR SHARING THIS WITH US. YOU ROCK

BAILEY'S MESSAGE

Please
take the time to read andlisten to the words I write thoughtfully, and
in them we may see, a part of ourselves yearning to be freed.

I
would like to share insights from my experience of a ten day Vipassana
meditation practice that helped to shape the view of the world as I see
it now, an experience that allowed me to see what pain kept out, an
experience that eradicated many self defeating
beliefs, doubts, and fears that dwelled deep below the surface level of
mind. During a ten day vipassana course, one practices mediation for
ten hours a day and totaling a little over 100 hours in the week.

One
practices sitting, breathing, and being with the Self. Sitting through
the discomfort of physical and emotional pain, sitting and breathing
through it,not moving to react or flee from discomfort, anxiety, anger,
sadness, etc...One truly sits and looks deep within themselves...where
the source is... the source of our capacity for unconditional love and
the compassion...these qualities dwell deep within, and to bring about
and live in these qualities one must eradicate self defeating thoughts
and behaviours, desires, cravings and aversions. So what came up for me?

The heavy weight I was carrying of attachment, fear, greed, and sadness.
I saw within myself all of the times I had felt hurt...hurt by the
violence of another's words, hurt by another's actions in which I felt
anger and resentment. Then I realized they did not hurt me, I hurt
myself, all of these actions had to do with the pain I inflicted on the
Self, sorrow and self-pity is self created; may I ask, when we shed
tears for ourselves or another, is it love? Crying because we feel lonely,
because we have been left, because we are no longer powerful,
complaining of our lot or environment, always 'us' in tears? If we see
this we understand that sorrow and Self-pity are Self created by thought
and the outcome of time.“ He left me, now I am lonely, I am aching,
there is no one whom I can look to for comfort or companionship, and it
brings tears to my eyes” Tears of Self-pity. We can see this happening
inside of ourselves only if we look within, watch closely. We can see
that the whole structure of 'me', my tears, my family, my nation, my
belief, my religion-is all inside us, and this separates us, causing
violence, hate, and wars. When we see this with the heart, not the mind
to be intellectualized, we then see the ugliness in it all, the key to
end our own sorrow, and that no one else can hurt us but ourselves.

For
example, a loved one of mine tried to commit suicide, at first I felt
angry “ How could you do this to ME”, then I felt shame and guilt “ Did I
do something wrong” then self-pity “What did I do to deserve seeing
another in misery” then I looked within, my sadness was about me...i
looker deeper and found a profound depth of compassion “Ah, it is not
just about you and your misery, I see now the whole world is suffering
and in misery..this is no longer about me”. I have came to realize all
of the selfishness and greed I had been living, the desires I had,
desires that are still to be mindful of to not let arise. For desire
leads to craving, craving leads to attachment, and attachment leads to
hurt. Whatever we are desiring is not the actual object..not a person or
place to travel, it is the feeling of satisfaction we get when we
attain that desire, and when we dont we feel dissatisfied and hurt. May
I ask you what is your ultimate goal in life? Some may say to help the
world, to raise a family, to be successful..whatever it may be whether
you believe it is selfless or not, is for your own satisfaction...even
the goal to help the world is for the satisfaction one feels from
helping others. We are selfish beings by nature, this is neither wrong
nor right, no condemning or justifying, it just is.

I realized during the
course where my desires stemmed from, from need of acceptance,
attention, and loss. Three years ago I decided to have an abortion, out
of this decision I then created sorrow for myself, I felt empty and
didn't believe I deserved to ever be truly loved or happy again ( might I
add this is all deep within, rooted beliefs, one as myself may think on
the surface level of the mind that all is well, intellectually I did
not believe this about myself, I was ignorant to my own dysfunctional
thinking ) this reflected in the relationships I sabotaged, always
thinking the other did not truly love me or was capable of doing so.

Realizing that these were my own self sabotaging beliefs! And how could
anyone ever be capable of truly loving me if I didn't let them or allow
them in!? Unconditional love and compassion then came flooding in, a true
understanding and unapologetic acceptance for myself, this is security,
this is confidence. Being able to look at oneself without fear and
judgement, being able to sit through the pain, accept the reality for as
it is, not as I wish it to be, accepting me for who I am, not who I
wish to be or who I wish to look like.

This feeling of confidence feels
unwavering, and now through continued practice I feel I can truly be an
instrument for peace, understanding, unconditional love and compassion.
For only when we TRULY love and accept ourselves, can we love and accept
others. Only when we can admit to ourselves and others, not hiding any
part of us for fear of being accepted or not. I share my experiences
with human beings in hopes that we can truly look at ourselves and how
our actions and beliefs about ourselves may be crippling us and
therefore the world. All of the change in the world starts and ends
within. I share to let all know that we are not alone through these
trials, yet will always be alone inside and must make peace within. This is the real me, not some illusion, facade, or false identity. I share ME, pains, sufferings, and experiences fearfully. This Facebook page is not one of superficiality..take a long hard look at me and see you, see we. See what we are and what we can do. This is the only moment and love is always we can do. This is the reality. Flowing straight from the heart for all to wake up and see.MEDITATION IS AN A.R.T

Here are some photos from my first 6 weeks on the Big Island.Compared to how much there is to see of Hawai'i, not to mention Maui and Kauai (both of whom I plan to visit before I return down under), I've seen very little so far.Adventure is calling, and I will share new images as they are experienced.EXTENDING A HUGE 'MAHALO' AND SENSE OF GRATITUDE TO MOTHER PELE AND ALL THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE WHO ARE MAKING MY VISIT HERE SO LOVELY :)